No matter what happens now, Antrim senior football team will have a new manager for the 2018 season.

Frank Fitzsimmons sent the Antrim county board an email on Monday night stating he wished to drop out of the process of selecting the management team for next year.

This brings to an end his four-year involvement with the senior team after coming in as selector with Liam Bradley for the 2014 season, later graduating to becoming senior manager and then sharing the job with Gearoid Adams.

Fitzsimmons can think of himself as being unlucky as, after gaining promotion to Division Three for the 2017 National League, they suffered relegation by scoring difference after the final play of the campaign against Longford. He also was the only name nominated by the clubs of Antrim on Monday 14, which was due to be a cut-off point.

However, the three man review panel of Alec McQuillan, Paul McErlain and Ciaran Hamill informed a county board meeting last Monday night that there were other parties interested in the role.

Those were named as Queen's manager and former Armagh All-Ireland winner Aidan O'Rourke, the 2010 All-Ireland club winning manager with St. Gall's Lenny Harbinson, and current Coalisland manager and former Antrim player John McKeever.

This latest development means that Antrim will start the 2018 season with new management.